Pluto LNG Project – Woodside Energy

... recorded zero lost time injuries for the life of the project.

The Pluto LNG project is located 190km north-west of Karratha, in Western Australia, in the Northern Carnarvon Basin. The project processes gas from the Pluto and neighbouring Xena offshore gas fields, which are estimated to contain 4.6 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of dry gas reserves and an additional 0.5 Tcf of contingent resources.

SITE A PREPARATION CIVIL WORKS

BGC Contracting was contracted to undertake preparations work for ‘Site A’ at the Pluto LNG onshore site, comprising of drilling, blasting and excavation of 638,000m3 of rock, placement & compaction of 100,000m3 of rock fill, as well as haulage and processing of 65,000m3 of rock into road base material. The remaining 473,000m3 of rock fill was stockpiled for future use. Establishment of a site office complex for the client was also completed. BGC also carried out the re-location of 44 Heritage Artefacts (rock art) to an on-site Preservation Area. All the heritage artefacts were successfully relocated without any damage, which lead to the issue of a contract variation to perform the Heritage relocation works on Site B.

OFFSITE PRECAST CONCRETE

In 2009, a second contract was awarded to BGC to carry out major precast work for the Woodside Offsite & Utility Area at ‘Site B’, including various civil works. The precast works was undertaken in the Perth precast yards and delivered to Pluto LNG Project.

BGC completed precasting and delivery of approximately 5,600 cubic metres of concrete footings. Other components of the contract included retaining walls, light pole bases, open and box culverts, pipe sleepers, manholes, valve pits, catch basins, firewater valve pits, epoxy treatment of manholes and valve pits and loading and transportation from Perth to project site at Karratha.

ONSHORE OFFSITE AND UTILITY AREAS

BGC secured a third contract with Woodside for the Pluto LNG Project in 2010. Responsible for the civil construction works associated with the Offsite and Utilities section of the gas processing plant, BGC constructed reinforced concrete foundations and pavements, detailed earthworks comprising some 250,000 m3 of engineered backfill, underground electrical and instrumentation cable installation, cable duct trenching, firewater and oily water GRE pipework, stormwater surface drainage, roads and fences.

Other associated works included the construction of heavy lift crane and trailer ramps, plus access roads for plant module handling and load in.

With a peak onsite workforce of 350 personnel, BGC Contracting successfully met all of the clients prescribed dates for plant module load despite a delay in site access, and recorded zero lost time injuries for the life of the project. The successful delivery of the civil work demonstrates BGC Contracting’s commitment to project delivery and safety.

BGC Contracting and Woodside energy have partnered on numerous projects prior to the Pluto LNG project including the LNG Train 4 Project and the LNG Train 5 Project and various other civil packages of work.